Pericles "I hope they put him away. Ideally, with a six-foot-six tattooed father-of-teenage-daughters as a cellmate."

Yes, exactly.

Ludwig, you are a disgrace.
Harris digitally penetrated girls aged 7 to 15. If that isn't a paedophile, what is?
Would you feel that he was not guilty if it was a female relative of yours?

Harris had all the money and power in the world to pay for great lawyers, but they still couldn't get him off could they?
He deserves the same punishment as any common paedophile ...

Ludwig,

"Yes Poirot, right at the lowest end of molestation, if at all. I would say not molestation at all. Not by a long way actually.

He did this openly and gained a reputation for it.

What does that tell us?"

We are talking about "adolescent and pre-pubescent" girls.

How is caressing girls' buttocks and putting his hand in a girl's crotch "not molestation"?

I mean really...that's a serious question.

And many of these instances were on first meeting the man.

Ludwig...how would you feel if someone you just met reached down your back, caressed your buttocks and then had a bit of a feel of your crotch?

I'm sure you'd be thrilled to know that a stranger took that liberty with your body...(and you're not a young girl who's just been taken advantage of by a celebrity.)

You say:

"This is completely different to the surreptitious activities of paedophile priests who knew they were doing bad things..."

Why is it completely different?

The reality is that it's not "completely different". This man repeatedly targeted young girls and felt them up for his own pleasure - totally disregarding the impact those actions had on their lives.

The message I'm getting is don't bat an eyelid if a stranger touches up your young daughter...it's only a bit of a grope...stop yer griping.

Unbelievable!

<< The fact that Rolf Harris committed many of these offences in plain sight of people - indicates that he thought his celebrity status placed him above the law. >>

That’s an interesting assertion Foxy.

It doesn’t make sense. Why would he think that?

Everyone else around him would have to have thought that too, wouldn’t they. It would only have taken one person to think that he was acting in an unacceptable manner to have gone to the authorities with a complaint.

There doesn’t seem to be any indication that anyone ever went to the police during the decades that he was doing this stuff. Correct me if you know otherwise.

Not every single person around Rolf would have been an avid fan or devotee. There would surely have been a few who would have gone to the authorities if they had thought that he was behaving in a seriously unacceptable manner.

This all suggests that he was behaving in a manner that was acceptable or tolerable or at worst; considered a bit dodgy but not to the extent of warranting police action.

I put it to you that he behaved in a manner that he came to understand was not going to get him into trouble.

I would have thought that he would think along the lines that his celebrity status, and hence the very many people who came to know about his ‘octopus’ activities, would have made him much more vulnerable to lawful action if he thought he was behaving in a seriously bad manner.

<< Excusing the behaviour of men like Mr Harris is not the way to do it. >>

Agreed.

I am not excusing his behaviour. But it does need to be put into context. And it would seem to me that what he is now facing is far and away too severe a penalty. (We’ll find out tomorrow just how severe the jail term is going to be).

Hi there ROBERT & CHRISGAFF1000...

It should be noted herein, I'd already finished typing a response to you both, and I've just lost the bloody lot !

Hi ROBERT...

Under British jurisprudence I'm sure some crimes impose a 'statute of limitations', as to what they are; I don't really know ? To my way of thinking, offences of this category should never be 'statute barred'. Serious and heinous crimes against children, I'm sure are open to prosecution, ad infinitum.

Hi CHRISGAFF1000...

Your suggestion does have substantial merit, particularly as the 'rock spider' concerned never has the opportunity to again defile a child. There's a lot to be said for a suspended sentence ?

Another remedy (though not available to us here, sadly) which is practised widely both in Singapore and Malaysia, is up to a dozen strokes of the rotan. There's substantial evidence suggesting this distinctive method of 'behaviour modification' does have great eminence amongst the judiciary presiding in both nations.

Apparently it has the effect of frightening the bedevil out of those contemplating further or repeat excursions into 'crimes of similar facts'. That gave most of 'em their initial introduction to the inimitable rotan.

Though one would never know what's in the mind of some of these people ? The mere act of sexually assaulting a child, is beyond comprehension of any normal man or women ? Anything that might masquerade as a successful cure for such offenders, is far from the grasp of most Psychiatrists and other Medico's ? It'll take many years before they can ever originate drugs of a kind, that ensures complete protection from these offenders, for the community at large. Until then, we must identify and lock-up these evil, albeit 'sick' critters, in order to safeguard our precious children.

Dear Ludwig,

Forgive me if I am misinterpreting you.

You appear to be saying because Rolf Harris has had the fame and glory as a public entertainer taken from him he has been punished enough. Doesn't the argument follow that someone without that measure of public recognition to lose should face jail instead.

This is a ludicrous proposition.

And what of the countless young girls who had their trust of adults broken in a very disturbing manner through his actions. How do we judge the long term damage wrought? Where is their measure of justice? I think the likelihood of success in court if any one of them alone had brought an action against Harris would have been slim. However law enforcement and the courts we able to bring a number of victims together to present a more formidable case against this man and his resources, resources provided to him by his fame and success as an entertainer.

No I think at this stage justice has bee served.

No-one says that harris's antics weren't wrong. As a matter of interest I don't recall hearing anything about actual intercourse so the term abuse is already out of context.
As several posters have already stated crystal clear it is the inconsitency with which Harris is treated vs non-celebrities . We had one who had actual sexual intercourse with 10 or so year old & he went to jail for 1 year. He had all his rotten teeth fixed while decent peole can't get near a dentist no matter how hard they try. We have an older bloke who consistently has very young girls around whom he provides openly with alcohol in return for alleged sexual favours but nothing is being done. I can't hear any do-gooders getting upset there so the celebrity component must have something to do with it & of course the publicity in this age of extreme vanity.